These shoes

These shoes nearly ended the decluttering before it began. It was just after dinner last night that I realised I hadn't chosen my three items for the day. Being a new habit, I had completely forgotten about it, and then went into total panic mode. Three things. Three things! How on earth could I choose another three things. I had already done one earlier, an invitation that I was going to scrapbook, till I realised I had no photos of the event, so what was the point of keeping the invitation? But two more? Then my mind turned to my shoes.

I knew I had two pairs of shoes in my cupboard that could go. Remnants of my days in the corporate world, which I left almost four years ago. The first pair was easy. I haven't worn them since I left my job, and I was kind of kicking myself that it took me so long to get them out. But this pair, oh how I loved them! I marched out to the lounge, shoes in hand and said to Papa Bear "These are my other two things for today, two pairs of shoes. I really loved these shoes, but I don't wear them anymore. Maybe I'll just take a photo of me wearing them before I give them away." BIG mistake.

The minute those shoes went on my feet, I started rationalising why I couldn't part with them. They looked so stylish. I could still wear them to church occasionally. They make my legs look a little more defined. They are cute black shoes with a silver bit. How could I part with them? So back into the wardrobe they went, with Papa Bear shaking his head at me the whole time. As if to redeem myself, I came back waving four dresses and three shirts in his face, "this is the rest of today's stuff".

But this morning I decided that I had to do it. This is the beginning of the journey. I am overcoming sentimentality. When I put those shoes back on, I forgot all the reasons I was letting them go in the first place: I never wear them, they rub my feet and give me blisters, my feet fall out of them at the back because they're slightly too big. And of course, as Papa Bear pointed out, they don't fit with who I am anymore. I am not the young single girl working in the corporate world, trying to impress everyone with the way I dress. I'm the young wife and mother now, a little eccentric, a little "crunchy", and in all honesty, I prefer to go barefoot anyway.